Tigran and Nikita from Berdyansk: three years after the murder of teenagers by Russia who said ‘Glory to Ukraine’

June 24, 2026 marked three years since the death of Tigran Ohannisyan and Nikita Khanghanov — two 16-year-old Ukrainian teenagers from temporarily occupied Berdyansk.

Their names have become a symbol not only of resistance to occupation but also of how the Russian war system works against children: first pressure, then abductions and interrogations, then charges under a heavy article, and finally — death, which the Ukrainian ombudsman and human rights activists call extrajudicial execution.

In the last moments, according to a widely circulated video, one of the teenagers uttered a phrase that became part of Ukrainian memory of Berdyansk:

“That’s it, this is death, guys. Goodbye. Glory to Ukraine!”

The response that followed was just as brief and terrifying:

“Glory to the heroes!”

These words are important to read not as a beautiful quote and not as a military slogan for social networks. These were the words of a child who understood that he might be speaking for the last time.

Berdyansk, occupation, and two teenagers who refused to remain silent

Berdyansk, a city on the shore of the Sea of Azov in the Zaporizhzhia region, came under Russian occupation after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For many residents, the occupation became not only a military reality but also a daily system of control: filtration, searches, denunciations, coercion, threats, and pressure on families.

Tigran Ohannisyan and Nikita Khanghanov stayed in their hometown.

Both were born in 2006. According to the decree of the President of Ukraine on posthumous awarding, Tigran was a student of Berdyansk School No. 7, Nikita — School No. 1.

In July 2025, Volodymyr Zelensky posthumously awarded both the Order of Freedom for civic courage, patriotism, and upholding Ukraine’s independence.

Ukrainian sources write that the teenagers did not hide their pro-Ukrainian position. In the conditions of occupation, this in itself became a reason for persecution. The Russian system perceives any dissent not as a civic position but as a threat. Especially if it concerns teenagers who are not ready to accept occupation as the “new norm.”

For the Israeli audience, this story is especially important not because it needs to be mechanically compared with the Israeli reality. Direct comparisons often simplify tragedies. But there is a common moral line: when the state machine begins to call children “terrorists,” torture them, deprive families of the right to protection, and even after death not return the bodies, it is no longer about a “conflict of versions,” but about the destruction of basic human boundaries.

NAnews — News of Israel considers this story in this context: as an example of how the Russian war against Ukraine is directed not only against the army or territory but also against the future of Ukrainian society.

How the persecution began

According to the European Parliament, the persecution of Tigran Ohannisyan and Nikita Khanghanov began after months of harsh interrogations by Russian structures. In the official resolution of the European Parliament dated June 15, 2023, it is stated that the interrogations began on September 30, 2022, and were accompanied by beatings, torture with electric shocks, and pressure on the teenagers’ families.

Ukrainian Pravda provided a detailed chronology.

On September 30, 2022, Russian military abducted Tigran from the home where he lived with his grandmother. His relatives did not know where he was for several days. After his release, the pressure did not stop: the teenagers were regularly interrogated, and their homes were searched. In January 2023, according to these data, the Russian military prevented Tigran from being taken out of the occupied territory, and on April 7, both teenagers were taken to Rostov-on-Don for a so-called psychological and psychiatric examination.

This detail is important. The occupation authorities were not just “checking” the teenagers. They were gradually building a criminal case around them, turning the underage residents of the occupied city into objects of demonstrative persecution.

In May 2023, the pressure moved to a new phase. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation charged Tigran and Nikita with allegedly preparing sabotage on the railway in Berdyansk. The European Parliament recorded that they faced up to 20 years in prison under Article 281 of the Russian Criminal Code, and they did not receive proper legal assistance.

This is how the logic of occupation works: first, a person is deprived of safety, then voice, then the right to protection, and then the very possibility of being heard.

What the European Parliament demanded

On June 15, 2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the torture and criminal prosecution of Ukrainian minors Tigran Ohannisyan and Nikita Khanghanov by the Russian Federation.

In the document, the European Parliament demanded the immediate cessation of proceedings against the teenagers, the removal of all charges, and their release. The resolution also called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to facilitate the safe return of the teenagers to Ukrainian-controlled territory, and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Violence against Children to conduct an investigation.

Nine days after this resolution, Tigran and Nikita were killed.

This makes the story of Berdyansk particularly heavy. International institutions already knew about their case. Public demands had already been made. It was already clear that these were minors threatened by the Russian repressive system. But it was not enough to save their lives.

For Israel, where the topic of children, hostages, the bodies of the deceased, the rights of families to funerals, and the dignity of the deceased has special significance, this plot should be understood without additional explanations. When a family is not allowed to protect a child, and then not allowed to properly say goodbye to him, it is not only a crime against a specific family. It is a demonstration of power over the living and the dead.

Day of death: the version of the occupiers and the version of human rights activists

Most Ukrainian and international sources indicate the date of the teenagers’ death as June 24, 2023. Suspilne, on the third anniversary, reminded that Tigran Ohannisyan and Nikita Khanghanov were killed on this day in temporarily occupied Berdyansk.

The Russian occupation version claimed that the teenagers allegedly opened fire and were killed in a “shootout.” Radio Liberty wrote that the occupation authorities accused them of terrorism, and the circumstances of the widely circulated video with Tigran’s last words remain unclear.

Ukrainian human rights activists say otherwise. ZMINA, citing the Media Initiative for Human Rights, wrote that, according to MIHR, the teenagers were killed by Russian snipers. Later, the family’s lawyer, Andriy Yakovlev, said that the nature of the injuries, in his opinion, indicated not a detention operation but an extrajudicial execution.

That is why it is important to formulate precisely in a journalistic text:
the Ukrainian ombudsman and human rights activists call the killing of Tigran and Nikita an extrajudicial execution; the Russian occupation side promoted the version of a “shootout,” but there is no independent trust in this version.

This is not a weak formulation. On the contrary, it is stronger than a propagandist shout because it is based on facts, sources, and legally precise language.

After death: bodies, certificates, funerals, and an attempt to erase traces

A separate part of this story is what happened after the teenagers’ death.

Ukrainian Pravda wrote that the relatives were not issued a death certificate, and Tigran’s grandmother was not even allowed to identify her grandson’s body. According to the publication, the teenagers’ bodies were sent “for examination” to Melitopol.

Later, ZMINA reported that the Russian occupiers did not return the bodies to the relatives for burial for more than five months. According to human rights representatives, the families were left without the opportunity to properly say goodbye to the children.

In December 2023, the family’s lawyer, Andriy Yakovlev, said that it was unknown where the teenagers’ bodies were, and that the real reason for refusing to return them to the relatives might be the desire to hide the intentional murder. In 2024, reports appeared that Russian structures might have secretly buried the teenagers, and the “terrorism” case was closed without a full investigation.

This is yet another layer of crime.

To kill is terrible.
To declare murdered children “terrorists” is even more terrible.
Not to return the bodies to the relatives, not to give graves, not to give certificates, not to give the right to farewell — this is an attempt to control not only life but also memory.

In Jewish and Israeli tradition, the topic of burial, the return of bodies, and the dignity of the deceased has special significance. Therefore, the story of Tigran and Nikita should not be perceived as a “distant Ukrainian tragedy.” It contains a universal question: what happens to the world if even the death of a child does not stop state lies?

Brief chronology of the case

Why this story is important for Israel

Israeli society well understands what it means to live under threat, what war is, what family pain is, and what the struggle to bring people home is. But that is why it is important for Israel to see the Ukrainian experience — not through diplomatic formulas, but through the fates of specific people.

Tigran and Nikita were not politicians.
They were not commanders.
They were not adults who chose the military path themselves.

They were teenagers from an occupied city.

But the Russian machine saw a threat in them because even a 16-year-old who does not accept occupation destroys the main myth of the occupier. The myth that the captured city “agreed.” The myth that people do not care which flag flies over the administration. The myth that fear is stronger than dignity.

The story of Berdyansk shows the opposite: sometimes dignity is stronger than fear even in those who have not yet become adults.

That is why NAnews — News of Israel returns to this topic three years later. Not to turn the tragedy into a slogan. But so that the names of the children do not disappear behind the daily news feed, diplomatic statements, and war fatigue.

Memory as resistance

Russian propaganda tried to label Tigran and Nikita as “terrorists.” This is a standard technique of dehumanization: first, a person is deprived of a name, then age, then biography, then the right to compassion.

But they have names.

Tigran Ohannisyan.
Nikita Khanghanov.

There is a city — Berdyansk.
There is a date — June 24, 2023.
There is a fact of persecution recorded by the European Parliament.
There is a posthumous award of the Order of Freedom.
There are last words that became part of the memory of resistance to occupation.

Memory in such stories is not only a candle and not only an anniversary. Memory is the refusal to allow the murderers to write the final version of their victims’ biographies.

Tigran and Nikita were tried to be presented as criminals.
Ukraine remembered them as children who did not betray their country.
European institutions recorded their persecution as an example of Russia’s violence against Ukrainian minors.
Human rights activists continue to speak about extrajudicial execution and an attempt to hide traces of the crime.

Three years later, this story remains an open wound. Not only for Berdyansk. Not only for Ukraine. For everyone who understands: war against children is always a war against the future.

And when a 16-year-old teenager in an occupied city says before death “Glory to Ukraine”, he is not talking about politics.

He is talking about the right of a person not to bow before those who came with weapons, torture, and lies.